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A-Level History or Sociology....?

Hi!

I am currently in the process of selecting my A-Level subjects for next year, and am currently conflicted between History and Sociology...

In all honesty I don't particularly want to do either, but in order for me to attend my college of choice I need to select a subject from each of their 'blocks'.

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I intend to take English Lit/Lang, Politics and Geography - and my fourth choice very much depends upon the workload of History or Sociology. I take History at GCSE - and am on course for an A/A* - but I am fearful that it'll be too much work along with my other subjects.

If you take History or Sociology I would be very grateful if you were to get back to me with your thoughts - specifically on how much time each subject takes...

Thanks in advance :smile:
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AQA History: Tsarist and Communist Russia and The Wars of the Roses or The Making of Modern Britain.

AQA Sociology: Year 1 - ‘Culture & identity’, ‘Families & households’,‘Wealth’ and ‘Poverty & welfare’, ‘Education’, ‘Health’ and‘Sociological methods’.

Sociology: Year 2 - ‘Beliefsin society’, ‘Globaldevelopment’,‘Mass media’ and ‘Power & politics’. Thesecond grouping includes ‘Crime & deviance’,‘Stratification & differentiation’ and ‘Theory &methods’.
Reply 1
History - you seem like you'll be capable with it, it's more respected and it will provide better preparation for more uni courses than sociology. :smile:
Reply 2
I dd both, honestly History is a very respected subject, its quite hard. I did History but it allowed me to develop my essay writing and analytical skills.
As for sociology, I loved it, another subject that helped with analysis skills. It helped in university too, I did an one module in Law and doing sociology at A level helped with my understanding of law. We had to argue sociologically about how law is made.
I actually think you've picked really good subjects, both would compliment but I'd go with History.

Have you thought about uni yet? I know its early but thinking about your degree choice may help about what subjects to choose.
(edited 8 years ago)
Reply 3
Original post by MJlover
I dd both, honestly History is a very respected subject, its quite hard. I did History but it allowed me to develop my essay writing and analytical skills.
As for sociology, I loved it, another subject that helped with analysis skills. It helped in university too, I did an one module in Law and doing sociology at A level helped with my understanding of law. We had to argue sociologically about how law is made.
I actually think you've picked really good subjects, both would compliment but I'd go with History.

Have you thought about uni yet? I know its early but thinking about your degree choice may help about what subjects to choose.


Thanks for the reply!

I have thought about potential uni courses; at the moment I am leaning towards Politics with International Relations - which probably leans further towards History then it does Sociology, but as I said - its the time commitment/work load of doing both of the main humanity subjects that I find daunting!
History is a lot of work and quite-time consuming, admittedly, but it's one of the most interesting subjects IMO. I do Tsarist and Communist Russia and it's a pretty decent course, not as good as the other one I'm taking, but still very good.

Sociology is definitely easier, though that hasn't been the case for me for some reason - got an A in the mock for History and a B in Sociology.

Also, if you take History, Politics and Geography at A2 you'll have two facilitating subjects rather than one if you pick Sociology (assuming you wouldn't drop Geography)
Reply 5
Original post by jamestg
History - you seem like you'll be capable with it, it's more respected and it will provide better preparation for more uni courses than sociology. :smile:


Thanks for the reply :smile: Did/do you do History - if so, how much of your time did it take up in comparison to other subjects?
Reply 6
Original post by popcornjpg
History is a lot of work and quite-time consuming, admittedly, but it's one of the most interesting subjects IMO. I do Tsarist and Communist Russia and it's a pretty decent course, not as good as the other one I'm taking, but still very good.

Sociology is definitely easier, though that hasn't been the case for me for some reason - got an A in the mock for History and a B in Sociology.

Also, if you take History, Politics and Geography at A2 you'll have two facilitating subjects rather than one if you pick Sociology (assuming you wouldn't drop Geography)


Thanks for the reply! On a side note - how much time does a history controlled assessment require? Mine would be on Tudor Rebellions or Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust according to the handout the 6th form gave me.
Reply 7
Original post by Luke_James
Thanks for the reply :smile: Did/do you do History - if so, how much of your time did it take up in comparison to other subjects?


I'm doing AS history at the moment. It doesn't take up too much time as one of my units is just a continuation of a GCSE one, I do Germany 1918-89. Also I'm really interested in the two units, the other being Fascist Italy, so it all sinks in without too much worry.
Original post by Luke_James
Thanks for the reply! On a side note - how much time does a history controlled assessment require? Mine would be on Tudor Rebellions or Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust according to the handout the 6th form gave me.


That happens in A2 so I don't know.
Also I personally find Sociology to be somewhat boring, the content is alright, but I hate the exam format. In History and Politics there is some room for you to make a personal judgement and arguement - in Sociology it feels like you just have to write what sociologists think and argue, not what you think.
Reply 10
Original post by popcornjpg
Also I personally find Sociology to be somewhat boring, the content is alright, but I hate the exam format. In History and Politics there is some room for you to make a personal judgement and arguement - in Sociology it feels like you just have to write what sociologists think and argue, not what you think.


I've been looking through the past papers on AQA's website this morning, and that is the impression I have been getting...
Reply 11
Original post by jamestg
I'm doing AS history at the moment. It doesn't take up too much time as one of my units is just a continuation of a GCSE one, I do Germany 1918-89. Also I'm really interested in the two units, the other being Fascist Italy, so it all sinks in without too much worry.


Awesome, I wish they were the units on offer to me! Thanks :smile:
I did both at AS and then Hist at A2. Soc. is less content and it's necessary to know less info for it to analyse and write good essays. If you're solely making the choice based on w/load I would therefore go for SOc. However, interest actually plays a major role in how easy we find things so therefore if the Hist course interests you more probably go for that!
Original post by Luke_James
Awesome, I wish they were the units on offer to me! Thanks :smile:


No problem! Good luck with your GCSEs and A-level choices!
History.
Reply 15
Original post by Des_Lumières
I did both at AS and then Hist at A2. Soc. is less content and it's necessary to know less info for it to analyse and write good essays. If you're solely making the choice based on w/load I would therefore go for SOc. However, interest actually plays a major role in how easy we find things so therefore if the Hist course interests you more probably go for that!


Good point, I'm probably leaning towards History at this point :smile:
If you want an easy A go for sociology
If you want a respected subject go for history
They're both very interesting
I studied sociology at AS, but I have a few friends who studied both..
History is harder- but has its own advantages as its superior to sociology in many ways.


Posted from TSR Mobile
I'd go for history imo, not just because it's more respected, but because I studied Tsarist Russia at GCSE and loved it - so I imagine at A Level it's even more interesting! I'm not too sure about the other topics so maybe have a look in their textbooks to see if it's the sort of thing you would be interested in?
Reply 18
Thank you for all of your help: I went for Government and Politics, Lit/Lang, Geography and History :smile:

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